A while back, the SecDef stated he was planning for a surge of 9000 soldiers to Afghanistan next year, so three more brigades just further supports that. Three brigades would be roughly 9000-10000 more soldiers. I have been talking about this subject on this blog since last year, but more so since January. Task Force Phoenix is stretched way too thin since they were saddled with the Police mentoring mission. This happened in January 2007 and progress on either the Army or Police front has been tough at best. As my man Puss would always say, “You can do more with less, all you can do with less is less”.

32 coalition members have died in the month of June in Afghanistan, 19 in Iraq. There are several months left of summer and the enemy will be out in force. They are getting better and more brave all the time. The prison break alone was enough to distract the Afghan Army while they massed in the Angharab district and tried to put up a fight. Granted they succeeded in the prison break, and they suffered terrible losses in trying to go head to head with our forces last week, but they probably succeeded in showing the uneducated and un-informed Afghan public that they still pose a threat and that they can put up a fight against the coalition forces.

55 enemy fighters killed yesterday in my old stomping ground of Ziruk distict of the Paktika province, suicide bombers in Kabul and Herat, and some deadly IEDs with coordinated adn complex ambushes in the Khandagar province are all signs that the enemy is not cowering away and are ready to try and fight.

Even if they lose 20 in a fight, if we lose 1 American then that is 1 too many. We cannot afford to wait until next year to surge. We need to surge now, we need to drop another brigade in there NOW and go after the enemy forces with extreme prejiduce. These are some determined fighters with improving war-fighting skills and outside influence. There is evidence all over the county of Pakistan, Iranian and Chechyian influence at a minimum.